A group of journalists from Russia arrived in Managua this weekend in order to specify an agreement signed between the two countries three months ago.
Said contract established that the Nicaraguan Communication and Citizenship Council, which is made up of the country’s state media conglomerate, and the Spanish-language RT television channel will “exchange” information.
Analysts assure that Managua will make more than 20 official channels available to broadcast Russian content, transmitting it to 6.6 million people who live in the country.
Victoria Vorontsova, director of the RT television channel in Spanish, was the one who led the visit; in the same way, the deputy director of said medium, Alexander Luchaninov; and Karina Melikyan, director of international cooperation.
After their arrival, they said that they were seeking to “develop an exchange and training program” with the government media of the administration of President Daniel Ortega, which add up to a media emporium in the country between television and radio channels.
Daniel Edmundo, son of President Ortega and who serves as media coordinator for the ruling party in Managua, received the delegation and said that in the coming days they will be “strengthening and tightening cooperation and brotherhood between RT in Spanish”, with the official media.
It is unknown what kind of activities are scheduled during the visit of the directors of the Russian media, however it occurs in a context where the Nicaraguan president has closed dozens of critical media, and has forced more than 120 reporters into exile, while he has closed international channels in the country, such as CNN in Spanish.
Eduardo Enríquez, editor-in-chief of the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa, whose entire editorial staff went into exile, told the voice of america that currently “journalism suffers the most repressive stage in its history.”
In this context, RT will arrive in the country and Enríquez affirms that although “it appears to carry out professional journalism” it really “is at the service of the Vladimir Putin regime.”
“RT is the disinformation arm of the Russian regime abroad and therefore an ally of Ortega and the rest of the autocratic regimes in Latin America: Cuba and Venezuela,” Enríquez lamented.
And he added that the Russian channel “can only reach Nicaragua to carry out propaganda coverage, hand in hand with the local propaganda apparatus, by disseminating it in the markets where that channel penetrates, which are not only autocratic regimes, but also in democratic societies where their goal is to confuse.
Víctor Manuel Pérez, from the organization of Independent Journalists and Communicators of Nicaragua (PCIN), who emphasized that the arrival of RT in Managua “is clear evidence that the regime only favors those who applaud its bad government.”
Nicaragua scores low on the World Press Freedom Index ranking 160 out of 180 countries, where 1 has the best media environment.
RSF, which compiles the index, says the country’s independent journalists “endure a nightmare of censorship, intimidation and threats.”
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